The New York Saints scored eleven second-half goals to surpass and pull away from the expansion Columbus Landsharks Saturday night, on their way to a 17-12 comeback win in front of 8,123 at Nationwide Arena in the first NLL game ever played in Ohio.

The Landsharks' first-ever goal came early in the first period, a unassisted tally from Mike Benedict that tied the game at a goal apiece. However, the men of the hour were all from New York -- Steve Sombrotto capped a hat trick with the game-winning goal early in the fourth quarter, Brad Dairon paced the Saints with four goals, and Game MVP Roy Colsey and Jason Wulder finished with three goals each.

Alysia Peyton Columbus Dispatch   New York Saints goalie Gord Nash blocks a midair shot by the Landsharks' Kyle Arbuckle as the Saints' A.J. Haugen watches.

The Landsharks, led by Tracey Kelusky, clung to a 7-6 lead at halftime, but the Saints seized the momentum after the intermission with unanswered goals by Mark Frye, Sombrotto and Joe Ghedina. Columbus never recovered, and were outscored 11-5 over the final two periods.

Kelusky, the first-overall pick in the September 2000 draft, finished with four goals. Mike Benedict and Bruce Codd each scored twice for the Landsharks.

Kelusky, appropriately nicknamed "The Show," put on just that for the Nationwide Arena crowd. The twelfth and final goal for the Landsharks came off an amazing move by Kelusky, in which he faked out a Saints defender not once, not twice, but three times before notching the goal. He did pay the price though: a stick caught his eye and left him a bloody mess.

Fans were treated to organized aggression on artificial turf, continuous music during play, fast-paced action (a mixture of hockey and basketball), goals galore, and some opening night glitches, such as the scoreboard and 30-second clocks being inoperable some of the first quarter.

Several Landsharks and Saints players came off their benches to join a brawl in the second period that resulted in four game misconducts on each side. New York's Ben Prepchuk, Brian Spallina, Blake Miller, and Mike Battista were sent off after the fighting, as were Landsharks Rory Graham, Jamie Raffan, Mark Goers, and Marshall Abrams.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
New York Saints (1-0)                 4  2  6  5  --  17
Columbus Landsharks (0-1)             4  3  2  3  --  12

NEW YORK SAINTS               COLUMBUS LANDSHARKS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Colsey         3 - 3     6    Kelusky        4 - 0     4
Wulder         3 - 3     6    M Benedict     2 - 2     4
Dairon         4 - 1     5    Codd           2 - 2     4
Sombrotto      3 - 1     4    Trudeau        1 - 3     4
Ghedina        2 - 0     2    Arbuckle       1 - 1     2
Frye           1 - 1     2    Caines         1 - 0     1
Haugen         1 - 1     2    Giles          1 - 0     1
                              Kahoun         0 - 1     1
                              Richard        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           52    Shots on goal           57
Saves made by           45    Saves made by           35
  Nash               45          Campbell          35
Loose Balls             65    Loose Balls             90
  Colsey             13          M Benedict        17
  Sombrotto          12          Caines             9
  Lowe                7          Campbell           9
                                 Trudeau            9

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH NLL WEB SITE ***